Columns

State lawmakers can learn a thing or two from cursive writing.
The script penmanship joins together letters and characters in a flowing manner generally used to make writing efficient.
Wouldn’t that be rich? To see legislators joining together to...

As schools, colleges, and universities open, there is an abundance of mental health facts that you may share with your family, friends, classmates, colleagues, churches, and communities.
Remember: These statistics about children, teens, and adults...

To hear the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry tell it, the majority of the Lincoln Parish legislative delegation is doing a pretty pitiful job when it comes to backing bills that protect business and support a strong economy.
The lobby...

According to the Emily Post Institute, “We can all be more cognizant of how we use our mobile technology and how our usage may impact others around us — at home, on the road, in the office and whenever we are in public.”
The truth is, I have a lot...

What a great time to remind us about the benefits of eating family meals together.
School is back in full swing. Life will be more scheduled less relaxed than summer time.
There will be school activities, dance classes, scheduled sports activities,...

As usual, there’s a large group of outstanding high school football players lined up to earn headlines on Friday nights in North Louisiana.
The dynamic duo of quarterback Justin Rogers and wide receiver Terrace Marshall of Bossier City Parkway.
Pass...

My brother and I are 18 months apart. We have always been very close growing up. He would let me paint his nails or dress him up in my play dresses, and I would play with cars with him or play soldiers outside. Our friend group tended to be the same...

In the fall of 1979, I graduated from Louisiana Tech. When he called me in; my academic advisor said that I had actually exceeded the maximum amount of tuition paid my any un-incarcerated student in Louisiana. My diploma said I had earned a degree...

It’s in the numbers. The law of averages always catches up to us.
That includes celebrity deaths. The older we get, the more likely it is that we’ve felt the loss of someone we admired from afar for whatever reason.
It happened again for me last...

Asset allocation is a strategy that can help take the guesswork out of choosing investments for your portfolio. Instead of putting all your eggs in one basket, you spread your eggs (dollars) among a variety of baskets (stocks, bonds, and cash). The...

Question: I read somewhere that on average I need 70 percent of my working income in retirement. Does that sound about right?
Answer: Last week we began examining this issue by identifying four bases you need to cover in your planning for retirement...

Unless you live near an amusement park that does a lot of advertising, you probably didn’t know that Wednesday is National Roller Coaster Day. Actual roller coasters provide people with thrills. But as an investor, how can you stay calm on the “...

Unless you live near an amusement park that does a lot of advertising, you probably didn’t know that Wednesday is National Roller Coaster Day. Actual roller coasters provide people with thrills. But as an investor, how can you stay calm on the “...

“How do you think he’s going to do?” “What do you think of him?”
The “he” and “him” cited above in the most commonly asked questions I’ve encountered over the last two weeks is Heath Murry, the new executive director at D’Arbonne Woods Charter...

From kindergarten to 12th grade, I went to the same public school in the small village of Florien.
I graduated with a small class of 40 — the second largest class that had moved on from that building. We saw each other every day and we knew all of...

The new school year has arrived.
Teachers, staff and administration gear up for thousands of Lincoln Parish students heading to school for the first time since the final bell rang at the beginning of summer.
Lincoln Parish schools superintendent...

Here’s what’s wrong in Louisiana.
In July, Gov. John Bel Edwards sent at letter to House Speaker Taylor Barras asking Barras to identify a plan he is willing to support to keep the state from plummeting off the fiscal cliff upon which it is rather...

“Focus on Photography, Bicycle Adventures, Lift Off, Micro Magicians, See Them Sprout, Play the Role” ...
Can you believe these are 4-H projects that any 9 through 19-year-old can participate in when they become a member of the largest youth...

As the DART child advocate, I come across a lot of children that do amazing things. It makes me sad when I see an adult — only every now and then — discount the importance of what children can offer our world.
The children I work with have been...

Kentrell Brice wants to be known for more than just that “smash-the-face-mask” hit in the 2016 NFC playoffs.
You have to remember it.
Brice, who prepped at Ruston High before playing collegiately at Louisiana Tech, leveled a vicious tackle on Dallas...